Tens of thousands protest in Greece after a fatal train accident

Tens of thousands protest in Greece after a fatal train accident

On Friday, hundreds of thousands of people in cities and villages in Greece gathered to demand justice and to remember the second anniversary of the country's most difficult train accident. Striking workers paralyzed air traffic and stopped maritime traffic and train operation.

The train accident in Greece

On February 28, 2023, 57 people died in a collision of a student train with a freight train near the temporary glue in Central Greece.

Missing security measures

Two years later it was found in an investigation that the security deficits that led to the accident still exist. A separate criminal investigation has not yet been completed, and so far nobody has been convicted for the incident.

MassingMos in the whole country

In dozens of cities across the country, mass protests were planned. All international and domestic flights were deleted because the air traffic controllers joined the seafarers, train drivers, doctors, lawyers and teachers in a 24-hour general strike to commemorate the victims of the accident. Many shops remained closed and theater canceled their performances.

protests in Athens

In the early morning, tens of thousands of people had gathered on Syntagma-Platz in the center of Athens, observed by police officers in operational clothing. One sign was: "Government of the murderers." The center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriako's Mitsotakis, who was re-elected after the accident in 2023, sees repeated criticism of relatives of the victims because she failed to initiate a parliamentary investigation into political responsibility.

public opinion and government bashing

The government rejects any misconduct and emphasizes that it is in the judiciary to examine the incident. The protests on Friday reflected the growing rage over the catastrophe in Greece, where distrust of the government is widespread after the debt crisis from 2009 to 2018, in the course of which millions of people had to do without wages and guest houses and were underfunded by public services.

"The government has done nothing to achieve justice," said Christos Main, 57, a musician at the rally in Athens. "It was not an accident, it was murder," he added.

The expression of grief and anger

Another demonstrator who called herself said she came to commemorate the deceased: "But also because the government tried to cover up things." The names of the killed were sprayed in red color on the floor in front of the parliament building. In the suburbs of Athens, groups of all ages made their way to the city center and held up posters with the inscription "I have no oxygen", a slogan of the protests that imitated the last words of a woman who had contacted the emergency service. Many students appeared in black clothing for lessons, a symbol of grief. Others held black balloons in their hands.

government action and political responsibility

In a Facebook post on Friday, Mitsotakis said that his government would work to modernize the rail network and make it safer. "That night we saw the country's ugliest face in the national mirror," he wrote about the night of the accident. "Fatal human mistakes met chronic state inadequacies."

The opposition parties have accused the government of covering up evidence and demanding that it step down. In the coming week, parliament will be expected to be debated in the disaster to investigate a committee to investigate possible political responsibilities. In a survey that was carried out by the Pulse opinion research agency this week, 82 % of the Greeks surveyed stated that the train accident was "one of the most important" or "the most important" matter in the country, and 66 % were dissatisfied with the investigations into the incident.

solidarity among parents

In Athens the students chanted: "Text me when you get there" - the last message that many relatives of the victims sent them to them. "We are here because we are parents ... tomorrow it could be our children," said Litsa, a 45-year-old nurse.